Ready for some contextual tea spillage? There are some popular songs, or even entire artist discographies (you’ll see), that become tarnished by unfortunate context long after they’ve been released. Some are tarnished entirely once, then again several years later. Occasionally, an artist is just kind of an ass and ruins his own legacy. But enough vague allusions; come here for the context, stay for the new (possibly worse) perspective.
“Satisfy You” — Puff Daddy (Diddy) ft. R. Kelly
“Satisfy You” was released in 1999 when Diddy was in his Puff Daddy era and R. Kelly was still one of the reigning R&B artists of the decade. Now that both R. Kelly and Diddy are in prison on sexual abuse and prostitution charges, respectively, this song collaboration takes on some pretty dark contextual undertones. The proof is in the YouTube comments, as they say. The endless scroll is full of variations on a theme: that is, declaring R. Kelly and Diddy “the FREAKIEST collab in history,” among other things.
Morrissey’s Solo Work
If you can see past Morrissey’s opinions and still enjoy The Smiths, props to you. His solo stuff, though? Not so sure about that. Besides his propensity to cancel shows at the last minute, Morrissey holds some generally piss-poor politics, specifically English-related politics, but many of his views travel across the pond. Around 2019, he was performing on TV wearing a For Britain pin, which is a far-right political movement. But Morrissey’s views have been aggressively terrible since the 90s, and he has long made anti-immigrant statements. Additionally, he expressed derision for victims of Kevin Spacey and Harvey Weinstein during the sexual assault allegations. Morrissey is great at sharing truly heinous opinions, then pretending he’s a victim when people call him out. Honestly, “Bigmouth Strikes Again” should be the name of his next memoir.
“Cry Me A River” — Justin Timberlake
Unfortunate details about the context of Justin Timberlake’s breakout hit “Cry Me A River” came out when Britney Spears released her memoir, The Woman In Me, in 2023. Spears and Timberlake famously dated in the early 2000s, a relationship that was shaped by rampant tabloid culture. Their romance eventually imploded, and Spears’ book shed new light on the relationship and the aftermath of “Cry Me A River.” In the book, Spears asked, “May I just say that on his explosive album and in all the press that surrounded it, Justin neglected to mention the several times he’d cheated on me?” She also wrote, “I don’t think Justin realized the power he had in shaming me. I don’t think he understands to this day.” The backlash from the book forced Timberlake to publicly apologize to Spears. He also apologized to Janet Jackson, who suffered professionally after the 2004 Super Bowl.
Lostprophets Discography
Unfortunately for the rest of Lostprophets, the overall context of former singer Ian Watkins’ horrendous criminal acts against children already tarnished the legacy of the band and their songs. Still, the remaining members went on to form another group together while Watkins, described as a “determined” and “remorseless” pedophile during sentencing, served a 29-year prison sentence. Now, news broke recently of Watkins being murdered in prison on October 11, and the whole ugly thing is being refreshed in people’s minds. Watkins was convicted in 2013, but his ex-girlfriend had been trying to get police to investigate him since 2008. With Watkins serving as the primary songwriter for Lostprophets, the music was irreparably altered by the context of his crimes.
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